Naming Approved at Winter Meeting of the UT Board of Trustees Executive Committee
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees Executive Committee approved the naming of the UT College of Veterinary Medicine (UTCVM) Large Animal Hospital in honor of long-time benefactors Charles and the late Julie Wharton. The trustees held their winter meeting at the Joint Institute for Advanced Materials on the UT’s Cherokee Farm campus in Knoxville.
The naming recognizes the significant philanthropic support that Wharton, a 1965 graduate of the Tickle College of Engineering, has shown the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, including the College of Veterinary Medicine, UT Extension, UT AgResearch, the Herbert College of Agriculture, the Tickle College of Engineering and UT Athletics. Wharton is the president and CEO of Poplar Creek Farms LLC and HC, Inc.
Wharton recently established the Charles and Julie Wharton Large Animal Endowment to expand their support of UTCVM, which dates back to the late 1980s when the Whartons’ pet English bulldogs received care from the Veterinary Medical Center.
Dr. Jim Thompson, UTCVM dean, praises the impact of the Whartons’ generosity. “We are so deeply grateful for the longtime support of Charles and Julie Wharton,” says Thompson. “Their philanthropic support of UT and particularly the large animal and equine facilities at UTCVM has been transformational. It is fitting that our large animal hospital will now bear the names of two of our most passionate supporters.”
The intensive care unit at the UT Equine Hospital already carries the names of Charles and Julie Wharton. The Whartons’ transformational philanthropic support will propel the large animal hospital to continue to be at the forefront of equine and farm animal medical care. The Charles and Julie Wharton Large Animal Hospital includes the Equine Hospital, the Farm Animal Hospital and the Equine Performance and Rehabilitation Center and serves horses and cattle and a wide variety of species including sheep, goats, pigs and other large animals.
The 85,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art large animal hospital provides the most advanced technologies available for diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of horses and farm animals.
Julie Wharton served on the UTCVM advisory board from its inception until her death in 2008 and was a founding member of the UT Alliance of Women in Philanthropy. She also served on the hiring committee for Thompson.
Charles Wharton is a current member of the UT President’s Council and associate member of the UTCVM Board of Advisors. He is a former member of the UT Board of Trustees, UT Foundation Board, UTIA Advancement Board, UTAA Board of Governors, UTSI Support Council, UTAA BOG Annual Giving Standing Committee and UT Research Foundation Board and the former Chair of the UT Development Council among other leadership roles. His volunteer leadership provides influential assistance on educational issues at the institutional and state levels, with a focus on access and opportunity for Tennesseans to higher education.
In 2017, Charles Wharton was recognized with the UTIA Meritorious Service Award. He received the Alumni Service Award in 2012, and in 2009 he was awarded the Development Council Service Award.
The UT College of Veterinary Medicine is part of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA). Through its land-grant mission of research, teaching and extension UTIA touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. utia.tennessee.edu.